Characters: Flintheart Glomgold

I mentioned in a previous post that we started a new campaign Monday. My character is a dwarf cleric of Moradin called Flintheart Glomgold.

I created the character in broad strokes — knowing my D&D group (despite four additions), I figured our group would need both an effective leader/healer and a ritual caster. Of the published leader classes — Ardent, Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Runepriest, Shaman, and Warlord — three gain free ritual casting.

Compounding the problem is the fact that of those three — Artificer, Bard, and Cleric — one is from a peripheral campaign setting and the other merely didn’t appear in the Player’s Handbook — there’s basically only one choice.

I picked the Cleric based on the fact that the other classes just don’t get much in the way of feat or power support. I was similarly limited in the sorts of races I could choose — and as I think I’ve mentioned before, dwarf is basically the only way to go when it comes to most Martial, Divine, or Primal classes.

Races beyond the Player’s Handbook just don’t get much feat/power support — admittedly neither elves nor half-elves are an especially appealing choice for a Cleric — and this despite the fact that both receive a racial bonus to Wisdom.

So yeah. Dwarf Cleric. Best choice.

With basic character type and statistics spoken for, what was left to me was mostly personality. I figured since I was going to play a dwarf, a love of gold and battle would make sense. Moradin is the go-to choice for dwarves, so I based part of my character’s personality on the Creation, Earth, and Protection domains.

The Battle Cleric class option was a shoe-in for my character, as it trades the largely-unnecessary Healer’s Lore feature for Scale Armor Proficiency and a static +2 shield bonus to AC. It affords my character a bit more self-sufficiency.

And for the low, low price of one feat, Dwarf Weapon Proficiency grants my character access to some of the most powerful Superior Weapons available — since I was going to have two free hands (and a shield bonus!), I went and grabbed up an Execution Axe (+2 attack, 1d12 damage, brutal 2, high crit).

For at-will powers I chose Blessing of Battle and Blessing of Wrath — the first grants damage reduction to me or an ally within 5 squares when I hit, the second grants a damage bonus against my target. Both use Wisdom instead of Strength.

Earthen Hail seemed like a good choice for an encounter power — it targets Fortitude instead of AC, making it more accurate than the average attack, and in addition to weapon damage, it hits the target and enemies in a blast 3 for extra damage (the eponymous “earthen hail”). Also, it buffs me and nearby allies.

My daily power is Lesser Aspect of Wrath — which I figured would make it possible for me to “lead from the front” as needed, or cover the party’s retreat should it ever become necessary. A daily granting 10 temporary hit points is nothing to sneeze at — to say nothing of the ongoing radiant damage aura.

I rolled well for ability scores, and when combined with the dwarf’s racial ability bonus to Constitution, allowed me to start with a whopping thirty-one hit points — at that point, there are squishier defenders (Swordmage, I’m looking at you).

I’ve already created a page for the campaign, and it can be found under:Campaigns > Flintheart’s Heroes